The week leading up to the run boasted unusually good weather in Edinburgh-- the temperature broke 70F on at least two if not three days, and all was bright and sunny. On Saturday clouds arrived, and by evening a few sprinkles were falling. We hoped for the best.
Sunday morning I got up just before 7am, and sure enough, rain was pouring down, and heavy fog obscured everything more than a mile or so away. Because the race went through the city center, the bus schedule had been significantly disrupted, so taking a bus wasn't even a very helpful option, and I most assuredly was not going to take a taxi. I got the kids started on their day, and soon after Lynn was up for breakfast. I geared up my running clothes, along with a half-dead umbrella that could, in good conscience, be abandoned if circumstances required. It was about a 35 minute walk to Holyrood Park, and the umbrella made more of a difference than I expected, as only my shoes, socks, and jogging pant cuffs were soaked by the time I arrived. I found the Sick Kids tent, sorted out safety pins for my race number, used the loo, hung up my jacket in the tent, and went to the starting area. Despite the rain, the organizers had us lining up 20 minutes before the start of the actual run. There was a good group warm-up effort, accompanied by music that was far too loud, and then a short delay, apparently because there was a fire truck on the race route somewhere.
The runners were divided into either 2 or 3 waves-- I was in the second wave. The first group left, and about a minute later we were sent on our way. It was crowded at the start, and many people hadn't heeded the suggestion regarding hanging back if they planned to walk. A certain amount of bobbing and weaving was required at times.
The race route wound past Our Dynamic Earth and the Palace, and then turned South until the Cowgate. I'd started a stopwatch roughly when we got going, because I was concerned adrenaline would cause me to run the first 2 km too quickly, especially as those were the uphill segments. Sure enough, at the 1km mark on the Cowgate I clocked in at 5.30. But I felt relatively strong, and I was following a small group that seemed to be pacing just about what I wanted to run at. We ran along the Cowgate under the George IV bridge and a U-turn in the Grassmarket and then up Candlemaker row past GreyFriars to the Y intersection at the old Medical School. At the 2km mark I was just under 12:00, which was still 11:30, a bit fast since it had been uphill. But, again, I felt pretty good and was staying with the pace group. There we turned around to return on the George IV bridge, across the Royal Mile and then down the Mound. That was where we'd agreed Lynn and the kids would be if weather permitted. The rain had actually stopped just as the race started, so I wondered if Lynn would have brought the kids out, and whether I'd be able to spot them in the crowd. As it turned out, Lynn didn't drag the kids out of the warm dry house into the rain, and there were absolutely no other people there watching the race either. I raced down the Mound, the big downhill on the course, and hit the 3km mark around 17:30. At that point I stopped looking at my watch and just ran. The pace group had broken up into a couple different groups of ones and twos. I actually passed most of them on the slight uphill from Market Street to Jeffrey just before getting back onto the Royal Mile. I had wondered if I'd be able to pick up the pace in the last km. I saw the mile market and heard the bagpipes, and the last part of the Royal Mile towards the Palace is downhill, so I was able to go a bit faster. I sprinted when I saw the finish line, and, according to the race timer, finished in 25:32, which was much faster than I had planned, expected, or guessed. I felt good, picked up my goodie bag, a bottle of Powerade, a banana from the Sick Kids tent, and headed back home.
At 1pm we headed out to catch a cab for the mini-run. For once, the cab was late-- and 10 minutes made a big difference. The cabbie did a good job getting us almost to the Palace as quickly as possible, and we half-ran to the starting area, where the warm-up was already finishing. We got the kids into their trainers, I sprinted to the Sick Kids tent to drop off our bags and jackets, and then back to the starting area, and pretty much at that moment the race started.
Initially I was running with Taran, but we had assumed that Kenna would need more help (ie, carrying), so after a bit Lynn went with Taran while Kenna and I played dodge'em through the crowd. Kenna ran a funny race-- she would walk, then run, then jog, then complain about being tired, then race ahead, weave through the crowd (and it was a crowd), and then we'd hold hands and walk a bit. But she really did jog most of the race, except the block or so that I carried her, and she ran the very end to the finish line. Taran and Lynn had caught up with one of Taran's classmates, Sophia, and Kenna and I had briefly walked with Sophia's sister Elena and father Kiean, but Elena was tired and Kenna wanted to go faster, so we nearly caught up with Taran and Lynn. After the race we went back to the tent, had bananas and water, stomped through the mud pit that was the Holyrood Park field, posed for pictures for the Sick Kids Foundation Facebook page, and then started the long walk home. It was actually a really nice walk, though going the short way took us through the city streets rather than over Calton Hill, but the kids were tired enough to be predominantly cooperative, and I gave them some chocolate as incentive a couple times.
The biggest disappointment is simply that I put the kids' numbers on the backs of their shirts, partly because Kenna complained about having the number on the front and partly because I though the Foundation wanted the advertising of the shirt front. The disappointmnt is that the race organizers took lots of photos during the race, but they label them by bib number, and so we can't access them online. There were a half-dozen photos of me in the 5k, but although I know Kenna was photographed a couple times, and presumably Taran might have been as well, we can't access those.
Both kids say they want to do another run, though I don't know how much donation soliciting I'm game for. There's the "Fun Run" 5k around Holyrood Park on 23-Oct, right after we get back from Oban. That one has no age restrictions. And then there's a 5k Winter run with a 2.5k junior run that Taran could enter.
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